With a firm belief that only cooperative relationships among employers, health plans, hospitals, and providers can produce positive and progressive changes in healthcare at the local level, the Healthcare 21 Business Coalition (HC21) has taken a multi-pronged approach to making an impact on healthcare quality in its region.

One method HC21 has used to spur improvement is introducing hospitals to the Leapfrog Group’s national standards, which have been shown to increase patient safety. As one of seven original rollout leaders for Leapfrog, HC21 is one of the most successful regions in the nation to encourage local hospitals to complete a self-evaluation tool on how they’ve implemented national patient safety standards.